Rome Odunze started booking it.
The 9th overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft saw his Chicago Bears classmate move.
With just over two minutes left in the half of a preseason game against the Cincinnati Bengals, Caleb Williams was escaping the pocket. The designed play was over. The fun was about to begin.
Odunze then ran along the left sideline, gradually moving away from his defender. He realized there was nothing between him and the end zone, so he kept going.
Williams validated the decision by throwing a deep pass just outside the defender’s hands – and right into Odunze’s.
Forty-five yards. Seven from the goal line. Williams would rush for a touchdown from the remaining yards.
“A bad play where Caleb was making players miss in the backfield and I recognized it early and was able to get the better of the defense and create some separation,” Odunze told Yahoo Sports over Zoom on Tuesday. “He hit me just in time.”
“Something I think fans can continue to expect from us… hopefully there’s more to come.”
Did the Bears expect such theatrics? Yes and no.
On the one hand, Chicago selected Williams with the first pick because of his spectacular playmaking, including his 45-yard bomb. The team also selected Odunze, knowing that a quarterback needs a receiver to be a key partner.
Odunze demonstrated that in Washington with quarterback Michael Penix Jr.
“One thing that really stood out was Odunze’s ability to get out there and play outside of his scheduled time,” offensive coordinator Shane Waldron told Yahoo Sports. “He was able to find open space and make big plays that way.”
“He was the man Penix turned to in these critical situations.”
The Williams-Odunze link is therefore not shocking.
But if the rookie duo can replicate that kind of performance against more complex NFL defenses in the regular season, they’ll show something that wasn’t a given. Because at the start of training camp, they weren’t on the same page yet.
The difference was on display during the Bears’ final unprotected practice of training camp, a segment of the NFL schedule that largely consists of passing camp.
In that July 25 session, the game only vaguely resembled its final result and the tackles were not yet at their peak. But Williams and Odunze, who had already had some practice before the draft, were working to improve their chemistry.
Odunze was a regular target in team drills that day, with Williams waiting for him on various depths of runs, including deep. On shorter passes, they succeeded. On moving balls, less so. Odunze took full responsibility for a failure that probably looked more like the connection between the two players than the responsibilities assigned to either player.
“I wanted to take his top off and have him throw the ball over his shoulder, but for him, he reads wherever the defender is in a stacked position or he plays over the top for me,” Odunze told Yahoo Sports….